STEPPING OUT! Female Identities in Chinese Contemporary Art

STEPPING OUT! Female Identities in Chinese Contemporary Art is the first exhibition in twenty-five years to offer a comprehensive survey of the output of Chinese women artists working today. Taking outspoken and sometimes provocative stances, women artists began in the late 1980s to challenge the dominance of their male colleagues on the Chinese contemporary arts scene. Grappling with the tensions between a powerful tradition, the political ideology of the Party, and transformative economic changes, the twenty-six selected artists examine and document individual and societal fears, contradictions, and hopes, which they often expose with unsparing frankness. The representative selection includes both pioneers and young artists who are virtually unknown to Austrian audiences. The exhibition and publication project aims to correct the glaring imbalance in the visibility of women artists from China and point up the enormous diversity and relevance of their work.

With works by Bu Hua, Cao Fei, Cao Yu, Chen Qiulin, Chen Zhe, Cui Xiuwen, Fan Xi, Geng Xue, He Chengyao, Hu Yinping, Liang Xiu, Lin Tianmiao, Liu Xi, Li Xinmo, Luo Yang, Ma Qiusha, Peng Wei, Sun Shaokun, Tao Aimin, Tong Wenmin, Wen Hui, Xiang Jing, Xiao Lu, Xing Danwen, Yin Xiuzhen, Yu Hong

A publication accompanying the exhibition has been released by Hatje Cantz in English-German and English-Norwegian bilingual editions.